


The Informant Job

by Annide



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [6]
Category: Leverage, White Collar
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Handcuffed Together, Hiding, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:21:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23718112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annide/pseuds/Annide
Summary: While searching a warehouse, Eliot finds himself in a situation he wasn't expecting.
Relationships: Neal Caffrey/Eliot Spencer (Leverage)
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1667122
Comments: 6
Kudos: 57





	The Informant Job

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Bad Things Happen Bingo: Chained Heat

How could this happen? How did he, Eliot Spencer, world class retrieval specialist, wanted in several countries, now a member of the best crew of thieves in the country, possibly the world, end up handcuffed to this ridiculously good-looking, but truly annoying kid? Truth was, Neal Caffrey wasn’t actually a kid, he was Parker’s age, only a few years younger than he was himself. But the way he got on his nerves reminded him of teenagers who thought they knew better than you did, or Hardison.

Granted, Neal Caffrey was an excellent con artist. Not as good as Sophie, but close. He had gotten arrested a few years ago by a FBI agent who had been smart enough to use his girlfriend as bait. Since then, he had mysteriously disappeared from the map, mostly. He had been active occasionally, his aliases popped up every once in a while. Hardison kept track of other successful criminals such as them. And every criminal, whatever their level, who came into contact with Caffrey usually ended up getting arrested not long after. Very suspicious. Now, Eliot knew why.

The Leverage crew had come to New York to help a client. Already the drive from Boston in Hardison’s van had put him in a mood. He really should’ve grabbed a seat on the plane with Nate and Sophie, but he’d let Parker convince him to ride with them. A mistake he would never make again. Everything was going great, until they crossed paths with the FBI. And not just any FBI, they could’ve easily handled McSweeten again, but they ran into the New York white collar division. The one with the criminal consultant that helped them achieve an impressive solve rate. Still, it didn’t ruin things.

They could still work around them and keep on with their con while the FBI did their job trying to arrest their bad guy. All they needed was to get money back for their client before the FBI could finish putting their case together. They’d helped the authorities put their marks behind bars multiple times before, it was nothing special.

Where it went wrong was during Eliot’s search of the mark’s warehouse. He had unexpected company. They didn’t see him, but he saw them. Normally, he either would’ve left silently or he would’ve knocked them out, grabbed what he needed then left. But they had a hostage and Eliot couldn’t stop himself from trying to help him. They saw him before he was close enough. Immediately, a knife was put to the handsome guy’s throat and guns were pointed in both his and Eliot’s direction. Which would be only slightly annoying if there wasn’t a life other than his own at stake.

Eliot fought off the first guy who came close. But then they tightened their grip on their hostage, blood spilled from his throat and more guns turned towards Eliot and he had to raise his hands in surrender. He’d figure out something else later. The others knew where he was, even if they moved, there was a GPS tracker in the comms.

“What do we do? We weren’t ready for two of them, we only have one pair of handcuffs.” One of the guys said.

“Well, we could always kill one of them.” Now Eliot knew who the potential rogue was. He knew who to look out for.

“No, we’re not killing anyone. Cuff them together, that’ll slow them down at least.” A third man, clearly the leader of the group, said. Then he punched the hostage to render him unconscious. “Here, gonna be hard for the big guy to run away with a knocked out pretty boy tied to him.”

It actually would make things harder. But not impossible, he’d been handcuffed to a dead guy before, he knew he could do it. Those idiots turned their backs on them for a few minutes to discuss the situation and alter their plan. During that time, Eliot, wondering why he wasn’t the one they’d knocked out, put his new friend on his shoulder and ran away. The guy was heavier than he’d thought just looking at him in that expensive and very fitted suit. He put him down outside of the warehouse, hidden behind a container. They were at the docks and the place was a maze in and of itself.

“Hey, dude, wake up.” Eliot tapped on his cheek a bit. He’d checked the cut on his neck and the bruise on his annoyingly symmetrical face, there was nothing concerning. He looked a little beat up, but he would be fine. “Come on, this place is huge, I can’t carry you out of here. We’d get caught, and you’d get killed.”

“Oh, so you’re worried you’d have to try to escape with a dead body attached to you then?”

“I just think my chances are better than yours to survive.”

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“But I know plenty about myself. More than these idiots, otherwise they’d know not to leave me conscious. Though I am pretty hard to knock out.”

“Well, they knew enough to not handcuff me while awake. Otherwise, I could just get out of them.”

“You’re a thief.”

“Little diminutive, but yes. And you’re Eliot Spencer.”

“How do you know who I am?”

If he was being honest, Eliot found the guy’s little know-it-all quality to be attractive. He’d never admit it to anyone though. But he was flattered that he knew who he was.

“I... I was arrested a few years ago, now I am a criminal consultant for the FBI. I’ve seen your file. It’s very impressive. Not necessarily the kind of guy I’d want to be handcuffed with. I’m surprised you didn’t cut my arm off and freed yourself.”

“I don’t do that kind of stuff anymore.” Eliot thought for a second, a little uncomfortable with the fact this guy knew about his past. He felt exposed and ashamed, but it gave him an idea who he was dealing with. “You must be Neal Caffrey. The con artist who let himself get arrested, twice.”

“You make me sound like an amateur.”

“My crew has run into the FBI a few times, we never get caught.”

“I’m not in jail though, am I?”

“You think I didn’t notice your anklet? They have you on a leash.”

“That leash is how they’ll find us.”

“Do they even know you’re in trouble? Cause my crew will. I lost contact with them, our comms must be out of range here.”

“Peter and his team are the best, they’ll be here. And then they’ll probably arrest you. You can’t be here doing anything legal.”

“They won’t get a chance, because my crew will find us first. But don’t worry, once we get what we need, those guys and their boss are all yours.”

A gunshot went past, barely missing them. The bad guys had found them. Eliot grabbed Neal’s hand, pulled him up and they started running, quickly getting lost within the forest of containers. After a few minutes, Eliot thought they’d managed to get them off their trail, for a little while at least, so he pushed Neal against a container. The guy wouldn’t shut up and Eliot had to put a hand on his mouth so he could listen.

“Alright, we’re alone for now. But they know this place better than we do, so I don’t know how long we have. We need a plan.”

Neal seemed a little frustrated as he looked at him, then looked down at Eliot’s hand on his mouth. He seemed to be trying to say something. Which is when Eliot, who had gotten lost in his beautiful blue eyes, remembered he was still muffling him.

“Sorry,” he said as he let his hand fall back to his side.

“We’re not dealing with very smart guys here. They didn’t even pat me for weapons. Otherwise they would’ve found the anklet. I’m assuming that’s how you know about it?”

“No, your pants ran up when I carried you out. So you have a weapon?”

“No, I hate guns, but you seem like the kind of guy who would have one.”

“Why? Because of what I used to do?”

“Well, yeah. Everyone knows I have a history of being non-violent, you on the other hand... You must have a gun.”

“I don’t like guns.”

“A knife then?”

“Look, I don’t carry weapons, I don’t need to.”

“So nothing we can use to cut my anklet either then?”

“No, why? Oh, I see. If we cut it, the FBI will come running and they won’t need a warrant to come in. Smart. Maybe we can find something around here.”

Eliot started walking away until he heard a shout of pain from Neal. The handcuff tying them together, he’d forgotten about that. Then again, Neal could’ve just followed him. Eliot hurried back to him, he really wanted to get that smirk off his face. And he knew he could be scary enough to do it.

“What? What do you think is so funny about this?”

“Nothing. I guess you win. Your team will have to come for us.”

“Yeah. Except I may have exaggerated how quickly they might come.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hardison did mention there was a chance I’d lose signal here and I’m not supposed to get back for a while. Plus, they know I can take care of myself.”

“That you certainly can.”

“I didn’t expect to be babysitting a FBI informant.”

“Babysitting? I’m one of the best cons in the world!”

“Sure you are, Caffrey. Why did you even wear a three-piece suit to come meet guys in a warehouse at the docks?”

“I didn’t. I was on my way to meet with their boss when I was taken from the street and brought here.”

“And the FBI won’t notice you were kidnapped?”

“I also wasn’t supposed to get back for a while. And the light on my anklet is green, which means we’re still within my radius and Peter has no reason to check it.”

“Fine. Then we need to get on top of one of those containers. It’ll help us find a path to the exit.”

“Good idea. Give me a lift, I’ll pull you up.”

As it turned out, it was much harder to hoist someone up when handcuffed to them. Every time they tried, Neal ended up being unable to reach the top of the container because his arm was tied to one that held his feet. With a lot of effort, and several tries, Eliot managed to get him to stand on his shoulders, from which he could move to the top of the crate. With Neal’s help, he was able to climb up there and join him just in time.

They lied side by side in silence, catching their breath, while the guys looking for them walked past. They were angry, and worried. Their boss would not be happy about this. They’d lost the man who’d been sniffing around his business and they had an intruder, clearly looking through his private, hidden files, and they’d lost him too. Their boss was just about to close an important deal and he didn’t want anything to ruin this opportunity.

Neal turned to Eliot and lifted his eyebrows as if asking a silent question. Yes, it was his team offering the deal, they were conning the man. Once their pursuers were gone, Eliot was able to say more. How Nate and Sophie would be with him at this very moment to get him to sign a check. How Hardison and Parker were using their FBI aliases to coordinate with the white collar division team and keep track of everything they were doing. And how Eliot was here to collect more evidence to throw their way and make sure the arrest was solid and bad enough to completely destroy the man’s reputation.

“Damn, I really miss this. Running cons with the FBI is pretty nice, but you’re free. You can do what you want, you have a crew who’s got your back. I’m never entirely sure I can trust Peter, or anybody else for that matter.”

“I never thought I would ever get something like that. Especially with everything I’ve done. This crew is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Neal’s eyes shined bright.

“I feel so trapped sometimes.”

“Hey,” Eliot put his fingers under his chin and forced Neal to look at him, “it’s only temporary. Your sentence will end and you’ll be free again.”

Neal smiled softly. He lifted himself up on his elbow and put his free hand at the back of Eliot’s head. He leaned down and kissed him. Eliot was surprised, but pleased. As far as being handcuffed to someone could go, this was his favourite scenario. He’d know, it was his third time in that kind of situation. Never before had it ended with a handsome con artist putting his lips on his.

“Don’t you think there’s something more important we should do? There’s a bunch of guys with guns looking for us.”

“They won’t find us here, we’re safe. Plus, I’m pretty sure you could take care of them if they did. They couldn’t stay out of your reach or use me as leverage the way they did in the warehouse.”

“Yeah, they’d probably make the mistake of putting a gun to my head, or yours while you’re stuck being this close to me.”

“So, what do you want to do? We escape or we stay here a while and wait for a rescue?”

For an answer, Eliot wrapped Neal’s tie around his fist and pulled him down. He always loved men who wore ties. He found them so useful. It was an equally great tool to strangle someone with than it was to get them close enough to kiss. Neal straddled him and let his hand wander into Eliot’s hair. He tried to get both up, but the second was still handcuffed to his new friend.

“I never understood why people will just start making out while they’re being chased. Especially when the exit’s right next to them.”

“What? Parker, what are you doing here?”

Eliot sat up, keeping Neal on his lap, because there was really no point in trying to deny what happened, and he liked having him there.

“I’m here to rescue you, since you’re not doing it yourself. You wouldn’t answer us through comms.”

“Parker, nice to meet you, I’m Neal.”

He offered her his hand, but she ignored him. She instead undid their handcuffs and broke Neal’s anklet so the FBI could come and collect all the evidence that was just lying around in that place. Nate and Sophie had gotten the check from the mark, all that was left was to get his company and entire operation destroyed. So Eliot had to bring Neal back to the warehouse safely, to lead his FBI handler right where they needed him to be. The presence of the white collar division and their consultant had turned out to be great for their con.

“Is it weird that I wish we could’ve spent more time together? This was more fun than I’ve had in a while.” Neal said.

“Boston isn’t that far from New York, I can come back anytime I want. I’m not the one on a leash.”

“Yes, thank you for reminding me.”

Neal looked irresistibly dishevelled. His hair was undone, there was still a hint of blood on his temple, but his expression still showed confidence. In true con artist nature. Oh, Eliot wouldn’t be leaving New York right away. He had to get out of the way now, so Peter Burke wouldn’t see him, but he was planning on waiting for Neal when he got back to his place. He wouldn’t be rid of him that easy. They shared a last smile, and a promise to meet again soon, and Eliot left just as the feds showed up to pick up Neal.


End file.
